We made the first orders for the new prototype and have the workshop addapted. And did some testing of components with Marko the rest of that week. Also met with a person of his network in Ultra lights and flying wing tech. Was an interesting discussion as they plan to publish with NASA on this topic.

All international publicity

Funny that even internationally we get news attention. In an agrimagazin in Belgium there was a neat article on the drone; in Poland in a tech magazin, and in Germany too. So it is quite an attention.

Awaiting EFRO

We had submitted an EFRO proposal for the development of the agridrone last december. We have been given high points. In this period we had demonstrated the Proof of Concept in Orpheus at the Smart Industries event very successfully. Ineke Dezentjé, Dutch chairman of the Smart Industries Sector even mentioned us as example in her Speech at the event for 1300 people. Also the deputees of the province of Overijssel and Gelderland were highly positive on this development. We are still awaiting the final verdict..

Spray technology

We recently discussed with a major nozzle supplier the use of proportional units. It is not a problem for those people, but in the agri sector it was found not necessary until recently under the opening of precision agriculture.

More exciting news came to us some time ago. We had a meeting with a company Mantis ULV which is using extremely low volumes of spray means per ha. They use a rotary spray head that can be adjusted in speed producing different spray pattern and drop sizes. We are now testing this option for weed removal. We think that there are really some good innovators on the block here and have good relations. For us the weight and energy consumption and range of drip sizes and volumes need to be larger as for a tractor spray boom as we have a larger range of speed possibilities.

Advanced purchase agreements (APA’s)

Recently we found interest of a large farmer in France who’s in the seed production sector. Also in a agricultural test centre in the Netherlands there is interest for Such autonomous drones for spraying. Buying now, they will have benefits as first buyers and get all the attention and publicity.

Firefighting drone news

The cooperation with DPSA, a dutch company that produces innovative aerosol fire extinguishing systems (www.dspa.nl) is leading to really interesting developments. With them we have a unique launching system design for the DSPA canisters. We are also thinking it will lead to a new series of applications. In the next weeks we will demo the use of the concept of a fire fighting drone.

With the Twente safety campus we are discussing new ideas for fire fighting drones. It is often operational staff that sees potential for a new application. It is interesting to see the ideas of experienced and young generations of fire fighters.

Emergency drone news

With one of the most renowned parties in the aviation sector testing in Europe we will start an emergency drone development. This one will be able to carry emergency supplies to isolated villages and places that have been cut off from the rest due to natural disasters. It will have a long flight time and carry a 50 to 100 kg of payload.

Cooperation with German University of Hohenheim

At Hohenheim there is interest in vision and interpretation of crop status and differentiation. We have made first contact with them as they are highly experienced in this area and interested in drone applications.

Cooperation with UTwente

The latest news is that Leandro at the Fluid Dynamics department at the University of Twente is starting the sound measurements with the test rig with motors ESC’s and props We hope to find out efficiency of the props/motor/ESC system apart from sound profiles.

Market study

A Market study of Fontys high school has been finalized. Interesting results that were the result of an interesting method of analysis: it uses criteria that make the niche for the agri drone: where it is most suitable. Then it seeks the crops, farm sizes, tech status, legal aspects, financial feasibility and seeks the locations with it. Vineyards for sure are interesting according to the study, next are vegetables and fruiticulture.

In the mean time our contact base with farmers is growing over the Netherlands (hoping to start up with a group of crop farmers in Zeeland) and further in Germany and France where we have new contact with 2 larger farmers, both interested to experiment with our drone.

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About Us

Mankind in its boldest dreams always had the wish to fly, like a bird. Icarus did not succeed with the technology of those days. It is the extreme sensation to move in 3 dimensions and hang in the air, that hangliders/paraglider, sailplane, autogyro and chopper pilots make so excited about.